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Private sector lender IndusInd Bank is looking to acquire a bank in the next two years, a top official told NDTV Profit channel on Thursday. “We need to bulk up before the market is thrown open in 2009 or sometime beyond,” Bhaskar Ghose, managing director and CEO, told the television channel. India's central bank has said it would review foreign ownership in Indian banks after 2009. “We would typically look at banks with a relatively higher CASA (current account and savings accounts) ratio,” he said refering to higher low-cost deposits. (Sify) […]
Neha International Ltd, a Hyderabad-based floriculture company that exports cut-flowers, plans to acquire three floriculture companies based in Ethiopia. Neha will acquire a 100% stake in the Mauritius-based Globeagro Holdings, which holds a 99% stake in Alliance Flowers Plc., and 50% stake each in Holetta Roses Plc. and Oromia Wonders Plc. “The acquisition has been valued at Rs41.32 crore by the Mumbai-based merchant banker Keynote Corporate Services Ltd and we are planning to fund the acquisition partly by equity swap and partly by cash,” says Neha managing director G. Vinod Reddy. Shares of Neha rose 5%, or Rs2.50 a share, to Rs52.75 at close of Tuesday trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange, reaching a 52-week high. The shares were trading as low as Rs4.93 a share in October. […]
Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. said on Monday that it has acquired a 10% stake in Orient Express Hotels for Rs8.5bn (US$211.28mn). The Tata Group company made the acquisition through its wholly owned subsidiary called Samsara Properties, with a view to expand its brand internationally. According to reports, Indian Hotels has also written a letter to James B Hurlock, Chairman of the Orient Express Board, seeking an appointment to discuss a possible alliance with the company. “As part of this strategy, we have been pursuing alliances and relationships with leading hotel groups that have not yet up a presence in India, but have secured leadership positions in various geographies,” said R.K. Krishna Kumar, Vice Chairman of Indian Hotels. […]
Finnish telecom firm TietoEnator has signed an agreement to acquire Hyderabad-based Fortuna Technologies Pvt Ltd for about Rs 117.84 crore. Fortuna provides research and development (R&D) services and develops turnkey software solutions for major European and Asian mobile device manufacturers of 3G handsets. The acquisition supports TietoEnator’s strategy to build high and extremely qualified spearhead competence for telecom R&D. The impact on TietoEnator’s net sales for 2008 is expected to be about EUR 11 million and profitability of the acquired company higher than TietoEnator’s average level, Fortuna founder and President T C Ashok and TietoEnator marketing head Tommy Anst told reporters at a joint press conference on Monday. […]
Rajesh Exports Ltd. plans to sell a stake to domestic and overseas funds, Chairman Rajesh Mehta said in a phone interview. The Economic Times reported De Beers and a U.S.-based fund are interested in buying 51 percent of the company and will pay a premium for the controlling stake. Rajesh Exports is India's largest exporter of gold jewelry, according to its Web site. “Several funds including foreign institutional investors have shown interest to buy a stake,'' Mehta said. “I am not willing to comment on any particular buyer or investor.'' He didn't say why he plans to sell shares. (Bloomberg) […]
Another big-ticket buyout could be on the cards. A US-based buyout fund and diamond industry giant De Beers are learnt to have evinced interest in jewellery maker and retailer Rajesh Exports for acquiring 51% stake from its promoters. According to industry sources, while the suitors are yet to make a formal bid, the separate offer by both parties will be to acquire majority control at a premium to the current market price of the listed firm. The market capitalisation of Rajesh Exports is currently at Rs 2,650 crore. The share price of the company went up by 12.4% last week to close at Rs 729.50 on BSE on Friday. An acquisition of 51%, if it goes through, will also trigger a mandatory open offer for an additional 20% of the company. It remains to be seen whether the promoters, who hold 61.5% in the company, agree to sell. When contacted by ET, Rajesh Exports’ chairman Rajesh Mehta said: “I have no comments to make on any such offers. I can only say that we recently attended an investors’ conference in the US and there is a lot of interest from FIIs in the company.” Despite repeated attempts, De Beers India country head Rajiv Bhandari could not be contacted for comments and an email query sent to him failed to elicit any response. The media contact person for De Beers Diamond Jewellery was unavailable for comment. […]
The members of Vadodara Stock Exchange (VSE) raised Rs 12 crore by divesting over 51% of its total equity as part of its demutualisation process. The deadline set by Sebi for the second and last set of stock exchanges to complete their demutualisation process came to an end on Friday. “With September 14, 2007, being the last date to complete the demutualisation process, VSE has completed the process well within the deadline set by market regulator,” VSE MD Dipak Raval said. Around 29 investors have picked up stake in 15-year-old regional stock exchange. Some of the investors include companies like Financial Technologies, one of the promoters of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX). Other players include Amod Stamping, Lisa Finevest and Pratham Group company-Pratham Investment. A senior official of Reliance Group has also been allotted 2% in VSE. According to Mr Sanjiv Shah, Sebi nominee on VSE board, eight corporate houses have been allotted 26% of VSE’s total equity. “We expect that with prominent corporate houses as VSE’s shareholders, the market value of the exchange would go up further,” added Mr Shah. […]
The race for IFCI has entered the final stage with 10 bidders – both domestic and international – in the fray to acquire up to 26% stake in India's oldest financial institution. While the names of bidders will only be known on Saturday afternoon when the expression of interest is opened, the only name that was confirmed was a consortium comprising Japan's Shinsei Bank, US investor JC Flowers and state-run Punjab National Bank. PNB and IFCI had earlier agreed on a merger proposal brokered by government but deal fell through since the bank's management felt that the FI did not fit into its portfolio. But a change of management at the bank and IFCI's recovery have forced a rethink. While there were reports of Blackstone, Cargill, WL Ross and IDFC too submitting bids on the last day, at least two players – IDBI and Life Insurance Corporation – who already hold stakes and were widely expected to bid were absent. […]
Ipca Laboratories has acquired 100% shareholding of a small formulation product dossier registration-cum-distribution company in Australia. According to a release issued by Ipca to the BSE today, the Australian company currently holds five formulation registration dossiers. The release, however, did not mention the name of the Australian company. “The Australian company also has a wholly-owned formulation dossier registration-cum-distribution company in New Zealand currently holding three formulation registration dossiers in New Zealand,” the release added.(Business Standard) […]
Chennai-Based healthcare IT services company Helios & Matheson is targeting a $50-100 million all-cash buyout in Europe. It is in talks with two companies, one in Brussels (Belgium) and the other in Paris. The company hopes to close the deal by end of this fiscal. “We are looking at a foothold in Europe. The company has a cash reserve of Rs 85 crore. Another Rs 60-70 crore can be raised through internal accruals. We plan to complete the transactions in three phases (in two years time) but all through cash. We can also borrow from banks, if there is a need, “ said Helios & Matheson MD GK Muralikrishna told ET. Helios and Matheson has so far acquired three companies in the US — The Laxmi Group in California (2001), Maruthi Consulting Inc (2004) and The A Consulting Team (now renamed Helios & Matheson, US in 2006). […]
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